Ship comes in for ocean race spectacular
Sun, sea and sailing wow huge crowds
An armada of small craft follows the Green Dragon back to port after the in-shore racing event on the second weekend of the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway
More photos:Monday June 01 2009
ONE of the biggest crowds ever gathered for an event outside of Dublin made sure the two-week stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race reached new heights this weekend.
Brilliant sunshine, with temperatures reaching 26C, swelled the Galway and Salthill crowds to about 100,000 and even then gardai were stumped for accurate figures.
Added to that was the news that the original estimate by Failte Ireland of a €43m boost to the economy will be massively exceeded.
As Galway Bay shimmered yesterday, the seven boats competing in the round the world race battled it out for valuable points in the two in-port races.
They were joined in the bay by hundreds of spectator boats, while the coastline from the Claddagh to Barna village was almost unrecognisable, such were the crowds.
Tailbacks of up to 5km meant that many visitors had to abandon their cars and walk to the seafront.
And they were spoilt for choice between the spectacular racing in the bay, the aerobatics of the RAF Red Arrows flying team and the National Five-a-Side Tournament taking place at Salthill Park.
The British flying team are no strangers to Salthill, having performed on several occasions at the Salthill Air Show.
They were also well aware of the traditional protest at their presence from the Galway Alliance Against War (GAAW) and a small number of local councillors. A spokesperson for the fliers had acknowledged the right of people to protest before the team's display.
As some of the world's fastest jet aircraft raced across the blue skies, 99 red balloons -- signifying those who had died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- were held aloft in the symbolic protest by the anti-war activists.
The GAAW stressed that they welcomed the racing yachts to Galway, but were opposed to the presence of the RAF "war machines".
Damper
Out on the bay, the only damper was the dismal showing of the Irish-Chinese entry Green Dragon. The boat struggled in the light winds from the start to bring up the rear in both races.
The US entry, Puma, will have happier racing memories of Galway, however, winning the two-race series and cutting the gap with second-placed Telefonica Blue on the overall leaderboard to just a single point -- both trail race leader Ericsson 4 by a clear margin.
Meanwhile, the high hopes for Green Dragon, which had won a podium position by finishing third in the Boston-Galway leg last weekend, never looked like being realised in the shorter sprint races
Skipper Ian Walker said: "It just wasn't to be today. But even from where we were, out on the bay, it was quite amazing to look back at the crowds that lined the shore."
Elsewhere around the city, a variety of exhibitions and displays have been taking place in conjunction with the Volvo Ocean Race. The massive crowds have been converging on the tented race village at Galway Harbour every night since last weekend for free open-air concerts.
Yesterday, the crowds continued to throng the city, and Salthill in particular, where a serious attempt was under way to enter the 'Guinness Book of Records' for the biggest ceili ever held. Yet another record attempt will be made today, when the umbrella charity organisation Cope launches a mega Chinese Whispers event.
Organisers Let's Do It Galway confirmed yesterday that a total of 110,000 spectators had attended Saturday's events alone. Of these, 57,000 had passed through the race village.
Failte Ireland is confidently predicting that the attendance forecast of 140,000 over the fortnight of the Galway stopover and likely revenues of €43m will be well and truly smashed.
Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad revealed that, with three legs of the ocean race still to come, the total number of spectators for the event to date had already passed the previous record.
"Galway has played a big part in this," Mr Frostad added.
- Brian McDonald
